Alberta Premier Welcomes End of Calgary Gaza Protest as Camps Escalate

Premier Danielle Smith says she is pleased that the University of Calgary asked police to disband a pro-Palestinian protest on campus, and hopes the University of Alberta will take note.

Smith’s comments come as the University of Calgary president said the dismantling of the camp Thursday night descended into a confrontation with police over counter-protesters.

A similar protest took place on Friday, starting with a single tent on the campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and growing to about 35 participants.

Smith said at a news conference in Calgary that her government stands ready to help if asked, but that she is leaving decisions about what to do with the protest camps to the universities.

She said peaceful protests are fine, but rules must be followed and students’ education must not be disrupted.

“I am pleased that the University of Calgary has made this decision,” said Smith.

“I think in Calgary they found that a lot of the people who were trespassing were not students, and we have to take that into account.

“Kids have graduations. A lot of these kids didn’t have a high school graduation. It’s not fair to them or their families to have that interrupted.”

She added: “I’ll wait and see what the University of Alberta learns from what they observed in Calgary.”

The protest in Calgary began Thursday morning, when shelters and fences were set up as part of the encampment.

The university gave the protesters a warning to enter the grounds, but when they refused to leave, the police were called.

The protest reached a peak of about 150 people in the early evening. By 11 p.m., most had left, but the small number who remained clashed with officers. Police used flash grenades and tear gas and made arrests.

“Unfortunately, counter-protesters showed up and also violated our policies and engaged in a trespassing situation,” University of Calgary President Ed McCauley said in a statement.

“The situation quickly escalated to pushing, throwing projectiles at officers and – ultimately – flash grenades and arrests.”

McCauley said the university respects and appreciates protests within the safe confines of the school.

Calgary Chief Const. Mark Neufeld said the protest was initially peaceful, but that several people were present, who were not students, who were known for participating in other protests.

“There were people from the beginning who said, ‘We’re not leaving.’ Everything indicated that there was a group of people who were not going to leave,” Neufeld said.

He said flash grenades and tear gas were used as officers were pelted with glass bottles.

“That was the point where the situation escalated, when there was a small group of people throwing things at the police and grabbing them,” he said.

“People threw projectiles at the police and refused to comply with the legal instructions given.

“Enough was enough.”

Neufeld said five people were arrested and three were charged. All were released.

About 150 pro-Palestinian supporters returned to the University of Calgary on Friday afternoon, but there were no tents or barricades.

Many sat in lawn chairs. Others sat on the grass listening to speakers and occasionally chanting, “Free, Free Palestine.”

On a rock, painted in the Palestinian colours of black, white and green, were a number of messages, including ‘70,000 children killed’ and ‘2.2 million starving’.

Canada’s special representative for combating Islamophobia said on social media that the Calgary police’s handling of the protest was “shocking.”

“A terrible message is being sent to generations of Canadians who have been taught to believe in our democracy, in our freedoms, and to stand up for what they believe in,” wrote Amira Elghawaby.

The protest was one of several recent demonstrations on academic campuses in Canada and the United States in response to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Many protesters have demanded that institutions clarify whether their investments help finance Israel and its military in the Gaza conflict. If so, they want those investments stopped.

In Edmonton, tents were set up on a lawn on the University of Alberta campus. There were Palestinian flags, both cloth and hand-painted cardboard.

“When we started yesterday, it was one tent and four people. And it’s just grown and grown and grown,” said David Kahane, one of the protest organizers.

Kahane, a political science professor at the university, said the protest is about students holding their institution accountable for the “carnage that is taking place in the West Bank and Gaza.”

He said students are inspired by proven protest methods. Campus protests and calls for divestment helped end South Africa’s racist apartheid system, he added.

The university has warned protesters that while they respect freedom of expression, they are committing violations. Edmonton police say they are prepared to respond to public safety issues.

In St. John’s, about 50 people lay down on the cold concrete of Memorial University outside for a 76-minute “die-in” demonstration against what organizers call Israel’s 76-year occupation of Palestinian territory.

During the demonstration, a demonstrator read out the names of Palestinians who died in the war.

“Such a ‘die-in’ is minuscule compared to the amount of terror, fear and pain that people in Gaza have been going through for years and years,” said organizer Aramaria Yetman.

Montreal’s McGill University is seeking a court order to dismantle a protest camp there that has been there for two weeks.

University President and Vice Chancellor Deep Saini said in a statement that the school is concerned about safety as neither university officials nor firefighters were able to enter the camp to check whether health and safety regulations were being followed.

Saini also said the camp attracts protesters from both sides of the war between Israel and Hamas, which has increased tensions on campus.

He added that the camp is also located in an area where most of the faculties’ graduation ceremonies take place.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2024.

— With files from Bill Graveland in Calgary and Sarah Smellie in St. John’s

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press